Lucy Wickshire

Walter and his family turned to see Lord of Merve and Lord Morge walk in. It could be seen that they had heard some of their conversation. Walter"s mother turned red in embarra.s.sment and was a bit scared that she had gotten Walter into trouble.

"You must be in a hurry, that could not wait to be announced." Walter said blankly.

"I"m serious, Walter. When it comes to marriage, you must not marry just anyone. If Mrs. Krain is still worried about this, I can guarantee, none of your children will marry out of n.o.bility." Lord Morge a.s.sured Walter"s mother, whose eyes shined at those words. Doesn"t that mean things were going to work out well?

Walter frown. The serious look on Lord Morge"s face made him wonder if he knew something. Lord of Merve sighed. If it was anyone, it would have been okay; but Lady Wickshire had plans to marry Walter to Lady Steinhouse. Why she wanted this, they could not understand. But the knew one thing; the lady was serious about it.

Walter left without finishing his food, to his study with the two lords in tow.

"Did something happen?" Walter asked.

"We have instructions. We must leave tonight." Lord of Merve answered.

"We don"t really have much time to plan. The way I see it, if we don"t move tonight, we are going to miss the opportunity." Lord Morge said with a frown.

"What?" Walter asked.

"The lady wants us to take Lady Teel from the custody of the King Khor of Northern Lan. The queen-to-be is her daughter and the lady wants us to take her before the queen can. We would have taken more time to plan this out, but the lady said we must move tonight. Why she changed her mind about the time so fast, I can"t imagine what could have happened." Lord Morge explained.

"Let me get my coat." Walter said before leaving.

"What if we fail? We have only just found out where the king of Northern Lan is staying; going without much of a plan... this may not go well." Lord of Merve frowned.

"If the lady is personally interested in this, then we must move." Lord Morge said. Walter returned fast and they left with haste.

***

In the palace, Lady Raine made her way to the queen"s chambers. Though she now had the entire palace to herself, she was still to move into the queen"s palace. Still, this was a protected location and she needed the privacy. Moving quickly, she entered the now deserted Palace. Inside, her maid, Ria was waiting for her along with an older man garbed in black.

"My lady." the man knelt when he saw her.

"Stand. What have you found?" she asked.

"He entered the city three days ago. We are not sure where he is, but we have the city covered. Today, we are combing through lower town." he reported.

"That slime. He thought he could arrive early and block the Jade Hand from coming? How would he feel to know, I already had you arrive weeks ago?" she smirked.

"Find him. Mother will be with him." she instructed.

"We have narrowed it down to one area of lower town. We will find him tonight." the man swore.

"Prepare the men. Make sure to come back with mother or a head." she instructed and the man vanished from sight, leaving Lady Raine with her maid, Ria.

"My lady, people have been probing into the palace, sending in new maids and guards to mix with the old. They think we do not know they are trying to get information on you." Ria said.

"They don"t know who they are looking for at the moment. Have all the spies killed off tonight. I don"t want anyone of them seeing the prince." Lady Raine instructed.

"His Majesty knows you are keeping Prince Thelmus on house arrest but is doing nothing. Do you think that boy is really his son?" Ria asked. She had always been wary of this king. He did nothing even though his son was treated this way. Though they had made sure not to harm him or mistreat him, he is still unable to move around.

"I did ask him once. Why he totally ignores the boy, I don"t know." Lady Raine answered, then left the way she came.